I would like to talk with you for a short time about things that are being
said about us, the Mixed Blood Tribes. Did you ever stop to think about where
the people that run the B.I.A. come from? The United Stat’s Government appoints
them from the Federal Recognized Tribes. Then the United States Government
passes rules that say you must show a working relationship with the United States from before this country was formed
in 1776 when they know that the tribes have no written records to show this.
The American Indian Policy is set up to make sure that you cannot ever qualify
to meet the rules.

A few weeks ago the President of the United States went to the B.I.A. to meet with all
the Federal Recognized Tribes and at the end of their meeting he came out and
told all the News Reporters that he supports the Federal Recognized Tribe Bill
of Rights. This is full of Discrimination against the Mixed Blood Native
Americans. Here we have a President that has openly stated he supports Discrimination
against other Mixed Native American’s of which many are Black also. We need to
ask the NAACP how they can support a man in the White House who has openly said
he supports Discrimination not only against the Black Native American’s but against
all Mixed Breed Native Americans!

Also, have
you read the Constitution of the United States that says that land cannot be taken
from anyone without payment for the lands, except for Native Americans? Well
that is Discrimination! The United States Congress passed a BILL that said it is
going to pay to the Federal Recognized Tribes billions of dollars for lands
taken from them. How about the lands taken from the Mixed Blood Native
Americans? Perhaps now many will understand why Chad Smith and the other Federal
Recognized Tribes fight against Mixed Bloods becoming Federally Recognized? They
are trying to rip hundreds of thousands of Mixed Bloods, off for the money that
should go to all Native Peoples which includes you and me and everyone else that
is Native American including the Cherokee Freedmen.

Chief Chad
‘Corntassel’ Smith had his family history printed in a book that he has online
for sale at around $45.00 telling all of his family members from the Goins,
Garner, Green, Hicks and Smith families which goes on and on right down to
Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Then he had made the statement that his
Family was not from Georgia or Alabama on the news, well the book said
otherwise.

They made a
video about many of the Mixed Blood Tribes. What they did not tell you is that
the Chickamauga Cherokee was, at one time, made up of many tribes which were the
Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Shawnee and under the Shawnee were many Northern Tribes. They are
very good at trying to send people off down the wrong path and take them away
from the real reason that they are doing this, which is their greed for the
White Man’s money. The fact is that in 1838 when they walked the Trail of Tears
they lost more than just some of the people lives, they lost who they were. They
died as Cherokee on the Trail of Tears; they forgot what made them Cherokee!
Like Dragging Canoe said, “If you have one drop of Native American Blood then
you are Chickamauga Cherokee.”

We stayed in the East and carried on the fight for the homelands, we lost more
warriors fighting the United States than they did on the Trail of
Tears. In 1790, under Chief Little Turtle, the Chickamauga took on General Harmon in the North,
killing over half of his 1800 soldiers, Less than a year later under Chief
Little Turtle we took on General Clair’s 1400 soldiers, killing over half of
them. It is true that we lost the fight against General Mad Wayne’s soldiers
because Chief Little Turtle took his warriors out of the fight. But we moved
South again, still fighting and then moved to the Chickamauga upper town in
North Alabama where in time we sent warriors to aid Chief Red Eagle at Fort
Mims where there were 498 soldiers killed by 2000 warriors. Part of the
warriors went to Horseshoe Bend and the others went all over Alabama and southern Georgia. After the fall of Horseshoe Bend,
many of our people moved into north Florida at what is today called Lake City which
a long time ago was called ‘Alligator Town’ after our Chief Billy Bowleggs,
Halpatter Micco, who changed his name to Chief Alligator when he got to
Florida because of another Chief Billy Bowleggs of Florida whose actual name
was Holato Micco (he was Seminole and our Chief Billy Bowleggs was Creek).

We stayed and carried on the fight for the homelands, we earned the right to be
who we are, our people gave their lives to be who they are, these were our
family, we did not leave with our tail between our legs, our people stayed at
all cost and many died. We earned the right as Chickamauga Cherokee to be who
we are and I for one will not let anyone take that from me and my Family and
Children. Today, Indian Creek, Alabama has been built up into a white man
town, very little of what was once the lands of the Indian Creek Tribe remains
there, the white man has changed it, no one would ever know it was the same
place where I was born and my Father was Born and his Fathers. Always walk
with Yowa.

Wado,

Principal
Chief James Billy Chance

Osiyo Members, Council and Friends,

I have been asked many times,
who I think has more power in the tribe, the Mothers of the Roundhouse or the
Men of the Sun Lodge. Well, in history when you look back you see that Benjamin
Franklin saw how the tribal Government was setup, and they tailored the United
States Government after it. He liked the way the Mothers of the Roundhouse were
and the Men of the Sun Lodge, and then you had the Principal Chief and
Vice Chief.

Which brings us back to who
has the real power, well stop and think about it, a long time ago the Mothers
were the wives of the Chiefs and Vice Chiefs with all the women in the towns
and village were part of the Roundhouse, they cooked the food, cared for the
children and gave birth to them, and did many other things, should I have
to say more?

Well, it is true that all the
men in the towns and village also belonged to the Sun Lodge, but much of the
time they were away hunting or at war, off fishing on the river bank or some
place and working at being the best warriors they could be.

Also when you stop to think
about it, when someone came to the towns or village, who did they see most of
the time, the women. If a runner came to the town or village they would find
the Headmother of the Roundhouse because all the Warriors and Headmen were gone
fishing, hunting or to war, or just training to be the best they could be at
being a warrior to protect the town from harm’s way.

So who do you think got their way
and had the power in the towns and villages, any one of the men who is married or
have been married, no, if a woman wishes her way chances are she will get it in
the end.Which
was fine, we never had a problem with it, because we place our women very high
on the list of being very important to us as native people. It was the way we
lived when the men needed to be gone for days and weeks at a time. We found
over time that this worked very well for our people. Getting meat was not like going
to the corner store because the animals would move many miles at times from the
Towns and Village. A Woods Buffalo would be 1500 to 2000 poundsafter it was cut up, it then had to be carried many miles back to the towns and
Village. Also there was no way to keep it cold so in most cases it would have to be dried on the
spot, and that in itself would take days at a time. This is why they were gone
for many weeks hunting and fishing.

A town or village
was 20 to 30
miles apart, a walking warrior
could travel 20
miles in a day, and to go 30 mileswould take a day and a half. So do not believe the movies, there was not that
many horses in the old days in the East for Indians to use, most every place we
went was by foot, but walking is good for you.

But this gives you and idea
of why the women were there in the towns and Village for long times by
themselves. Never think an Indian Woman could not take care of herself, only a
fool would ever think she could not for they carried two knives, and knew how
to use them very well.

There are stories in the Storyfire’s
books of how women lived and were able to take care of themselves, it’s part of
our history.

Wado

Principal
Chief James Billy Chance

Osiyo Members and Council,

All our people should at all
times be Ambassadors of Good Will, if they wish to talk with people of another
Tribe, then they should speak only in good way. Never say or do anything to put
someone in another Tribe down, and if you are talking to a Principal Chief,
Vice Chief, Headmother or Headman of a Nation or even the United States
Government you should never say anything to put them or their Nation down
or their policy.

Treaty and policy is set by
the Principal Chief; once they reach an agreement then they bring it before the
full council to be talked about and agreed upon.At that time is when you can voice your idea
for or against a treaty or policy, but you always show another Nation full
honor and respect at all times.

Under the Wampum Laws we have
always conducted ourselves in an honorable way toward all other Tribes and
Nations, and we ask all our Chiefs, Vice Chiefs, Mothers of the Roundhouse and
Headman to follow the Wampum Laws. Anyone that will not follow the Wampum Laws
and word to be a great Ambassador of Good Will can face being removed from his/her seat on this council.

Always walk with
Yowa.

Principal
Chief James Billy Chance

This is a
picture of my mother, Susie Adell Joyner Chance, at the Federally Recognized
Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, North Carolina with one of the Chief’s;
as you can see he is wearing an Indian Headdress. I asked why they make such a
big deal out of me wearing an Indian Headdress in our Public School Programs
here in Florida, showing how that many different American Indians
lived around the United States. Look whose calling the kettle
black,the Cherokee
Nation Council needs to cleanup around its own door, before it decides to jump
on other people.

The Chief’s
in Cherokee, North Carolina wear the full headdress to symbolize what the
Plain’s Indian Tribes wore because when a tourist comes to the reservation they
are expecting this type of regalia and it is done to only draw a crowd of
people. Cherokees typically did not wear the full headdress but it is worn by
many for teaching purposes only or to catch the eyes of the tourist.

Wado

Principal
Chief James Billy Chance

This picture of the Federal Cherokee Indian of North
Carolina Wearing a plain Indian Head Dress

Click here to view a video taken of a Cherokee wearing a Plains Indian Head dress.

This is from the Cherokee Resavation in North Carolina, Notice the
welcome sign has a Indian with a full Plains Indian Headdress on it. And the
other is from the Cherokee Trading Post at the Resavation in North
Carolina.

THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF

WE PAY HONOR TO HIM

The History of the Native Americans
or any tribal people goes back for thousands of years into the history of
Mother Earth; the Principal Chief was appointed to his seat as head of the
nation by all by all the people that tribal Nation..

In addition to his good name
andhis outward respect the Principal
Chief is aperson of superior rank and
position.He has earned the respect and
integrity of his people and he is regarded with honor and respect by all.

He may not do what everyone thinks
he should, but he follows the traditional wampumsfor the betterment of the tribe and its people.There havebeen times that some Principal Chief’s go against what all the people
request, because it is the best and the right thing to do.No matter what the reason, tribal people over
our history have placed him where he is seated, to be the leader of this nation
and its people, and has been given the right to speak for and act for his
tribal nation.

We made our Constitution to live by in
the early 1800's, we later revised it in the year 2000.Following history, we still place the Principal
Chief with the respect and honor as the head of our tribal nation.We made our By-laws to aid us,to live and work by.From the early 1600's we have lived, worked
by and showed honor by the Wampum Laws that tell us how to respect each other
and our Chiefs, Mothers, Headmen,Elders,and all others in our
nation.

This is what makes a Native American, a
history of showing honor and respect, following a way of life that has been set
down for hundreds and thousands of years; first we show honor and respect to
the Creator (Yowa ), then Honor and Respect to the Principal Chief, the Clan
Chiefs, Clan Mothers, and respect to all the people that make up our nations
and Mother Earth.

Honor and Respect this is what the
Creator placed into all the Native People, and this is what sets usaside from all others on Mother Earth.It is not the color of our skin, eyes, hair,
or what part of Mother Earth we came from, but what he placed in our hearts, in
our souls, and our love for Mother Earth.The honor and respect that he placed into us is what a Native
American’shonor and respect of all
things on Mother Earth is about.Always
walk with Yowa.